Search

I had noticed several buses passing the top of the road at the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, and thought that it would be a good idea to find one heading south, which would take me closer to Victoria railway station and home.

I walked a short way down the street and found the bus stop, and as luck would have it there was a bus direct to Victoria, the number 38. I had just missed one (I had seen it going past as I walked to the bus stop) and back home in rural West Sussex that would normally mean waiting another hour (or sometimes two) for the next one. Fortunately here in London the timetable said it would only be 4 to 6 minutes.

It has been a while since I travelled on a London bus, not that it is much different from any other bus, except that this one announced the upcoming stops to passengers. Anyway I sat down an relaxed, and before long we were stuck in traffic, but at least I was seeing more of the streets of London than I would on the Underground.

I sitting back enjoying the world outside the bus when I realised we were heading through the streets of Westminster, the area where Thomas KINGHORN (my 3x great grandfather) had lived. I strained to see the street names, trying to spot one I recognised.

We must have been travelling down Shaftesbury Avenue, because we turned left into Great Windmill Street (or one end of it) and I realised we were in the street where Thomas KINGHORN had lived! Not that much remained from the time when he was living here, but it was nice to be there anyway.

A bit further along I guessed we would pass the St James’s Church, Piccadilly and sure enough we did. I caught a brief glimpse of the church and the colourful market outside, the church where four of Thomas KINGHORN’s children had been baptised, including my 2x great grandmother Dorothy Isabella.

I could go home happy now, in fact I was over the moon, my escape by bus from Underground mayhem had turned into a genealogical sightseeing trip!